I am a fervent campaigner on mental health issues, ever since my own breakdown in the early nineties. I am also Chair of the Trustees for the Reflections Art in Health charity which I formed with my wife Angiein 2011. I am the editor of Reflections Magazine, which showcases the creative talents of people who have experienced mental health problems; I also write for Mental Health Today Magazine. I use photography as a coping mechanism for my own depressive illness, and understand how and why the creative arts can help people who suffer severe mental distress. I am also a long distance charity walker. My campaigning in mental health over the past twenty years has involved a great deal of contact with politicians, and I passionately believe in the need for, and importance of, much more dialogue and communication between the public and their members of Parliament which is why I have written Commons People.